The World War II Multimedia Database - Bletchley Parkhttp://www.worldwar2database.com/taxonomy/term/4403
enThe Wizard Warhttp://www.worldwar2database.com/node/1010
<div class="field field-name-body field-type-text-with-summary field-label-hidden"><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even" property="content:encoded"><p><a href="#Introduction">Introduction</a></p>
<p><a href="#ultra">The Ultra Secret</a></p>
<p><a href="#wonder">Wonder Weapons</a></p>
<p><a href="#Radar">Radar</a></p>
<p><a href="#total">Total War</a></p>
<p> </p>
<p> <a name="Introduction" id="Introduction"></a>Introduction </p>
<p>More than any other war in human history, the Second World War was a war of advancing technology. Incredible advances changed the very nature of the warfare forever. </p>
<p>The 1930's was a period of military and technological stagnation due to the reduced budgets brought on by the depression. Many nations, especially <a href="/taxonomy/term/49">Germany</a>, developed plans in secret that represented radical departures from traditional military thinking. </p>
<p>The <a href="/taxonomy/term/4350">Spanish Civil War</a> allowed <a href="/taxonomy/term/49">Germany</a> to test and implement what the world came to know as <a href="/taxonomy/term/3334">Blitzkrieg</a>. Many of the <a href="/taxonomy/term/13">aircraft</a> in <a href="/taxonomy/term/4307">Spain</a> served with the <a href="/taxonomy/term/332">Luftwaffe</a> throughout the war in updated versions. </p>
<p>The <a href="/taxonomy/term/3809">Allies</a> were slow to implement new technologies, faced with shrinking defense budgets in the 1930's, and shrinking military intellect since <a href="/taxonomy/term/494">World War I</a>. Most of the <a href="/taxonomy/term/122">British</a> and French <a href="/taxonomy/term/13">aircraft</a>, and even the <a href="/taxonomy/term/3268">American</a> <a href="/taxonomy/term/13">aircraft</a>, were fabric-covered biplanes as the <a href="/taxonomy/term/123">Germans</a> were developing and fighting all-metal monoplanes. </p>
<p>The French High <a href="/taxonomy/term/3300">Command</a> in the spring of 1940 still relied on the same communications system used in <a href="/taxonomy/term/494">World War I</a>: motorcycle dispatch. The German <a href="/taxonomy/term/797">Panzer</a> legions mounted radios in each <a href="/taxonomy/term/695">tank</a>, and constantly provided their central commands with radio updates. </p>
<p>Throughout the war, the <a href="/taxonomy/term/123">Germans</a> and the <a href="/taxonomy/term/3809">Allies</a> implemented more and more technology to gain an advantage over their enemy. Here are some of the more notable technological achievements from both sides. </p>
<p><a name="ultra" id="ultra"></a>The <a href="/taxonomy/term/4400">Ultra Secret</a></p>
<p>The <a href="/taxonomy/term/3809">Allies</a> found a way to exploit the German radio communication. In September 1939 the Poles, on the verge of collapse, created a German <a href="/taxonomy/term/678">Enigma</a> machine and it was taken to <a href="/taxonomy/term/763">France</a> and eventually <a href="/taxonomy/term/720">England</a>. Virtually all the German military and diplomatic radio traffic were encoded with this device, which used a complicated system of gears and rotors to recode messages into 200 quintillion combinations. The rotor settings were easily changed, and if used properly, could not be broken. </p>
<p>The Poles also developed a computer, called a '<a href="/taxonomy/term/677">Bombe</a>,' that could read codes by changing rotor combinations. Also, operator error increased the chances of breaking the code and reading the message. But simply possessing the <a href="/taxonomy/term/678">Enigma</a> machine was not enough. The German messages had to be radio intercepted first. </p>
<p>The <a href="/taxonomy/term/122">British</a> dubbed the codebreaking the 'Ultra' Secret, for months of work could be undone if the <a href="/taxonomy/term/123">Germans</a> found out their codes were cracked. The nondescript mansion at <a href="/taxonomy/term/4403">Bletchley Park</a>, 40 miles north of <a href="/taxonomy/term/728">London</a>, became the center of <a href="/taxonomy/term/3743">Allied</a> codebreaking. <a href="/taxonomy/term/3479">Radio</a> masts popped up all over the grounds, and operators slept and worked around the clock in shifts. </p>
<p>The <a href="/taxonomy/term/4400">Ultra Secret</a> was of immeasurable value to the <a href="/taxonomy/term/3809">Allies</a>, if the commanders were able to take advantage of it. Thousands of messages flew around the Third Reich, and it took time to process them all. Sometimes commanders who did not have Ultra clearance did not fully appreciate the accuracy of the information; sometimes commanders who knew of the source simply did not believe it. In a hard choice, the <a href="/taxonomy/term/3809">Allies</a> sometimes allowed the <a href="/taxonomy/term/123">Germans</a> to proceed with an attack, even though they knew about it through Ultra information. The <a href="/taxonomy/term/4400">Ultra Secret</a> was considered so important it could not be compromised to protect the lives of a few ships or planes or even whole cities. Even though thousands of lives might be at stake. </p>
<p>The <a href="/taxonomy/term/3809">Allies</a> used Ultra to warn of U-<a href="/taxonomy/term/2021">boat</a> Wolf Packs, major offensives on all fronts, and to read diplomatic transmissions. Naval hunter-killer groups were tasked with retrieving German U-<a href="/taxonomy/term/2021">boat</a> Enigmas, and the U-110 capture in 1941 by the Royal <a href="/taxonomy/term/7">Navy</a> and the U-505 captured in 1944 by the US <a href="/taxonomy/term/7">Navy</a> helped to further <a href="/taxonomy/term/678">Enigma</a> research. </p>
<p>The <a href="/taxonomy/term/123">Germans</a> added a fourth and then a fifth wheel to <a href="/taxonomy/term/678">Enigma</a>, and <a href="/taxonomy/term/4403">Bletchley Park</a>, staffed with 10,000 <a href="/taxonomy/term/3268">American</a> and <a href="/taxonomy/term/122">British</a> mathematicians and codebreakers, developed an improved <a href="/taxonomy/term/677">Bombe</a> called Colossus. By 1944 ten Colossus machines were working on German codebreaking at <a href="/taxonomy/term/4403">Bletchley Park</a>, operated by Royal <a href="/taxonomy/term/7">Navy</a> Wrens, women sailors. </p>
<p>As the <a href="/taxonomy/term/3809">Allies</a> came closer to <a href="/taxonomy/term/49">Germany</a>, the amount of radio traffic decreased as more secure landlines were used to transmit orders, and the amount of <a href="/taxonomy/term/678">Enigma</a> traffic decreased. </p>
<p><a name="wonder" id="wonder"></a><a href="/taxonomy/term/4401">Wonder Weapons</a></p>
<p>Both the <a href="/taxonomy/term/3809">Allies</a> and the <a href="/taxonomy/term/123">Germans</a> invested large amounts of resources and funds inventing new weapons. The most famous and effective wizard weapon was the atomic bomb. Driven by a fear that Nazi <a href="/taxonomy/term/49">Germany</a> would develop and use an atomic bomb first, physicist <a href="/taxonomy/term/3418">Albert Einstein</a> wrote President <a href="/taxonomy/term/1573">Roosevelt</a> in 1939 to warn him of the potential threat. <a href="/taxonomy/term/16">United States</a> Army <a href="/taxonomy/term/3421">General Leslie Groves</a> was tasked with creating the <a href="/taxonomy/term/3268">American</a> program, which used a mix of eccentric academics and military spit-and-polish officers. </p>
<p>Raids on the German heavy water plants in <a href="/taxonomy/term/955">Norway</a> indicated that their program was behind the <a href="/taxonomy/term/121">Americans</a>, and emphasis switched to using the bomb on <a href="/taxonomy/term/1614">Japan</a> after the German <a href="/taxonomy/term/1741">surrender</a>. </p>
<p>The <a href="/taxonomy/term/123">Germans</a> were focusing on a number of weapons that were retaliatory in nature. The V-weapons, or “vengeance” weapons, were high-technology guided and unguided missiles: the <a href="/taxonomy/term/725">V-1</a> <a href="/taxonomy/term/727">flying bomb</a> began attacks on <a href="/taxonomy/term/728">London</a> and <a href="/taxonomy/term/3376">Antwerp</a>, <a href="/taxonomy/term/539">Belgium</a> in the summer and fall of 1944, after the <a href="/taxonomy/term/3743">Allied</a> landings. Randomly striking targets, the V-1s caused terror out of proportion to their damage, but killed hundreds. Soon the V-1s were supplemented with <a href="/taxonomy/term/4405">V-2</a> ballistic missiles, the first true medium-range <a href="/taxonomy/term/22">guided missile</a>. Developed at the <a href="/taxonomy/term/4412">Peenemünde</a> <a href="/taxonomy/term/23">missile</a> complex, both missiles were soon out of range of <a href="/taxonomy/term/728">London</a> as the <a href="/taxonomy/term/123">Germans</a> fell back to their own borders. The V-3, a series of large guns built into the French cliffs and aimed at <a href="/taxonomy/term/728">London</a>, was never completed. Slave labor from the <a href="/taxonomy/term/4413">Nordhausen</a> concentration camp was used to build the vengeance weapons, resulting in thousands of deaths from executions and starvations. </p>
<p>The other major German weapon was the <a href="/taxonomy/term/706">Messerschmitt</a> <a href="/taxonomy/term/704">Me-262</a>, the world's first operational jet fighter. In the space of seven years, the world had gone from biplanes to jet propulsion. Mounting 30mm cannon, it was a capable fighter, but dangerous to the pilot if the fuel was not handled carefully. Furious over bomber attacks on <a href="/taxonomy/term/49">Germany</a>, Hitler ordered the <a href="/taxonomy/term/13">aircraft</a> to be used as a bomber, preventing its defensive use and saving many <a href="/taxonomy/term/3743">Allied</a> bombers. Rare metals shortages grounded many planes. If the <a href="/taxonomy/term/704">Me-262</a> had been introduced a year earlier, the <a href="/taxonomy/term/3743">Allied</a> strategic bombing offensive would have been seriously compromised. </p>
<p>The <a href="/taxonomy/term/3809">Allies</a> had very different opinions on the use of technology. <a href="/taxonomy/term/3268">American</a> combat doctrine called for very heavy firepower to be used to smash a target, even if it could not be seen. This was contrary to the basic combat instruction that taught recruits to only fire at visible targets, but the <a href="/taxonomy/term/121">Americans</a> eschewed most tactical technological implementations. The <a href="/taxonomy/term/122">British</a>, however, developed many operational weapons, most notably under the inventor <a href="/taxonomy/term/4408">Barnes Wallis</a>, who was an explosive expert. He developed the 'bouncing bomb' that smashed <a href="/taxonomy/term/287">Ruhr</a> dams, and the 'tallboy' and '<a href="/taxonomy/term/4409">Grand Slam</a>' very large bombs that destroyed <a href="/taxonomy/term/1628">submarine</a> pens at <a href="/taxonomy/term/1095">Lorient</a> and sank the battleship Tirpitz. </p>
<p>For the <a href="/taxonomy/term/115">Normandy</a> invasion, the <a href="/taxonomy/term/122">British</a> developed a number of new technologies, including flail tanks that set off mines, swimming dual-drive (DD) tanks, and carpet laying tanks. Called 'Funnies' these tanks were not used by the <a href="/taxonomy/term/121">Americans</a>, except for the DD tanks. Other variants included the <a href="/taxonomy/term/462">Churchill</a> <a href="/taxonomy/term/3398">Armored</a> Vehicle Royal Engineers (<a href="/taxonomy/term/464">AVRE</a>) that mounted a large <a href="/taxonomy/term/1932">mortar</a> to assault concrete emplacements. Major implementations of new technology at <a href="/taxonomy/term/115">Normandy</a> included Pipe Line Under the Ocean (<a href="/taxonomy/term/4241">PLUTO</a>) to provide the <a href="/taxonomy/term/3809">Allies</a> with enough gas, and the Mulberry Harbors, artificial breakwaters <a href="/taxonomy/term/462">Churchill</a> insisted on building to facilitate landing men and materiel. </p>
<p>By the time the <a href="/taxonomy/term/3809">Allies</a> landed in <a href="/taxonomy/term/763">France</a>, the tide of technological warfare had shifted to the <a href="/taxonomy/term/3809">Allies</a>. Almost the entire <a href="/taxonomy/term/3743">Allied</a> air force were modern designs created in 1940 or after. The <a href="/taxonomy/term/123">Germans</a> were still using the same designs created in the thirties. Also, the <a href="/taxonomy/term/123">Germans</a> developed several types for each role, diminishing the effectiveness of their armor and <a href="/taxonomy/term/13">aircraft</a> by making four or five types instead of one or two. </p>
<p><a name="Radar" id="Radar"></a>Radar</p>
<p>The use of <a href="/taxonomy/term/26">radar</a> in the battle of Britain was a critical factor in the <a href="/taxonomy/term/122">British</a> victory. The <a href="/taxonomy/term/123">Germans</a>, who did not have comparable <a href="/taxonomy/term/26">radar</a> in 1940, quickly developed better <a href="/taxonomy/term/26">radar</a> in the face of <a href="/taxonomy/term/122">British</a> night bombing raids. </p>
<p>Radar was mounted in every conceivable vehicle. Ships and planes carried <a href="/taxonomy/term/26">radar</a> sets, and mobile units with <a href="/taxonomy/term/26">radar</a> stations were sent to all fronts during the war. The German night fighters equipped with <a href="/taxonomy/term/26">radar</a> were effective hunter-killers of <a href="/taxonomy/term/122">British</a> and <a href="/taxonomy/term/3841">Commonwealth</a> bombers, and the <a href="/taxonomy/term/3743">Allied</a> use of <a href="/taxonomy/term/26">radar</a> to attack German <a href="/taxonomy/term/4184">U-boats</a> turned the tide of battle. </p>
<p><a name="total" id="total"></a><a href="/taxonomy/term/4402">Total War</a></p>
<p>Finally, the most decisive factor in the war was the total mobilization that the <a href="/taxonomy/term/16">United States</a>, <a href="/taxonomy/term/1234">Soviet Union</a>, and <a href="/taxonomy/term/256">United Kingdom</a> underwent. Everything that could be manufactured was put on an assembly line, increasing production. All three countries called large numbers of women into factories, mobilizing them before war actually started in many cases. In contrast <a href="/taxonomy/term/49">Germany</a> never full mobilized, believing that German Aryan women should raise babies and be mothers, and <a href="/taxonomy/term/1614">Japan</a> did not mobilize until 1944, closing universities and requiring everyone to do war work. </p>
<p>The use of woman combined with radical building techniques allowed the <a href="/taxonomy/term/3809">Allies</a> to staggeringly outproduce the <a href="/taxonomy/term/3810">Axis</a> on every level. The technological war required workers and resources, and to get them the <a href="/taxonomy/term/3809">Allies</a> were willing to disrupt the social structure and the <a href="/taxonomy/term/3810">Axis</a> was not. While this would have lasting consequences for the <a href="/taxonomy/term/3743">Allied</a> nations in the form of the social protests of the 1950's and 1960's, women war workers ensured the survival and victory of the <a href="/taxonomy/term/3809">Allies</a>. </p>
</div></div></div><div class="field field-name-field-tags field-type-taxonomy-term-reference field-label-above clearfix"><h3 class="field-label">Tags: </h3><ul class="links"><li class="taxonomy-term-reference-0" rel="dc:subject"><a href="/taxonomy/term/4400" typeof="skos:Concept" property="rdfs:label skos:prefLabel" datatype="">Ultra Secret</a></li><li class="taxonomy-term-reference-1" rel="dc:subject"><a href="/taxonomy/term/4401" typeof="skos:Concept" property="rdfs:label skos:prefLabel" datatype="">Wonder Weapons</a></li><li class="taxonomy-term-reference-2" rel="dc:subject"><a href="/taxonomy/term/26" typeof="skos:Concept" property="rdfs:label skos:prefLabel" datatype="">radar</a></li><li class="taxonomy-term-reference-3" rel="dc:subject"><a href="/taxonomy/term/4402" typeof="skos:Concept" property="rdfs:label skos:prefLabel" datatype="">Total War</a></li><li class="taxonomy-term-reference-4" rel="dc:subject"><a href="/taxonomy/term/677" typeof="skos:Concept" property="rdfs:label skos:prefLabel" datatype="">Bombe</a></li><li class="taxonomy-term-reference-5" rel="dc:subject"><a href="/taxonomy/term/678" typeof="skos:Concept" property="rdfs:label skos:prefLabel" datatype="">Enigma</a></li><li class="taxonomy-term-reference-6" rel="dc:subject"><a href="/taxonomy/term/4403" typeof="skos:Concept" property="rdfs:label skos:prefLabel" datatype="">Bletchley Park</a></li><li class="taxonomy-term-reference-7" rel="dc:subject"><a href="/taxonomy/term/3421" typeof="skos:Concept" property="rdfs:label skos:prefLabel" datatype="">General Leslie Groves</a></li><li class="taxonomy-term-reference-8" rel="dc:subject"><a href="/taxonomy/term/4404" typeof="skos:Concept" property="rdfs:label skos:prefLabel" datatype="">Heavy Water</a></li><li class="taxonomy-term-reference-9" rel="dc:subject"><a href="/taxonomy/term/725" typeof="skos:Concept" property="rdfs:label skos:prefLabel" datatype="">V-1</a></li><li class="taxonomy-term-reference-10" rel="dc:subject"><a href="/taxonomy/term/4405" typeof="skos:Concept" property="rdfs:label skos:prefLabel" datatype="">V-2</a></li><li class="taxonomy-term-reference-11" rel="dc:subject"><a href="/taxonomy/term/4406" typeof="skos:Concept" property="rdfs:label skos:prefLabel" datatype="">A4</a></li><li class="taxonomy-term-reference-12" rel="dc:subject"><a href="/taxonomy/term/4407" typeof="skos:Concept" property="rdfs:label skos:prefLabel" datatype="">Messerschmitt Me-262</a></li><li class="taxonomy-term-reference-13" rel="dc:subject"><a href="/taxonomy/term/4408" typeof="skos:Concept" property="rdfs:label skos:prefLabel" datatype="">Barnes Wallis</a></li><li class="taxonomy-term-reference-14" rel="dc:subject"><a href="/taxonomy/term/4409" typeof="skos:Concept" property="rdfs:label skos:prefLabel" datatype="">Grand Slam</a></li><li class="taxonomy-term-reference-15" rel="dc:subject"><a href="/taxonomy/term/4410" typeof="skos:Concept" property="rdfs:label skos:prefLabel" datatype="">dual-drive tank</a></li><li class="taxonomy-term-reference-16" rel="dc:subject"><a href="/taxonomy/term/4411" typeof="skos:Concept" property="rdfs:label skos:prefLabel" datatype="">DD rank</a></li><li class="taxonomy-term-reference-17" rel="dc:subject"><a href="/taxonomy/term/4412" typeof="skos:Concept" property="rdfs:label skos:prefLabel" datatype="">Peenemünde</a></li><li class="taxonomy-term-reference-18" rel="dc:subject"><a href="/taxonomy/term/4413" typeof="skos:Concept" property="rdfs:label skos:prefLabel" datatype="">Nordhausen</a></li><li class="taxonomy-term-reference-19" rel="dc:subject"><a href="/taxonomy/term/464" typeof="skos:Concept" property="rdfs:label skos:prefLabel" datatype="">AVRE</a></li><li class="taxonomy-term-reference-20" rel="dc:subject"><a href="/taxonomy/term/4241" typeof="skos:Concept" property="rdfs:label skos:prefLabel" datatype="">PLUTO</a></li></ul></div>Mon, 28 Jul 2014 05:52:53 +0000Jason McDonald1010 at http://www.worldwar2database.comhttp://www.worldwar2database.com/node/1010#comments